World-wides, aka RIP-quitters

[Saltbitch]

You know I have to admit, for as many dumb, repetitive questions I see on this site, I am still proud to see that so many young(and a few old!) men are volunteering for military service. Even prouder still, most of you are volunteering for service in the Ranger Regiment.
I recently attended the Ranger Rendezvous at Ft. Benning, and man I tell you what, I wish I could have had all of you DEPpers there. You would have been able to see first hand what all the BTDT'S talk about; the attention to detail, the 'move with a purpose', the never say die/never quit attitude. I tell you the truth, I had almost forgotten what it was like to hang out with Real Men. It was trully motivating.

Unfortunately, I also was reminded of the quitters; the sorry bastards that quit before ever really beginning RIP. It is something that I've never understood; not when I went through and not even now. I got to take a good look at those guys; you see, the quitters were all there. They were doing all the bitch-work of preparing the activities for Rendezvous. Cleaning, setting up tables, putting up decorations, etc. They were there, in the very midst of everything; in the middle of the biggest Ranger Family reunion there is. But not as brothers, not as peers. They were there simply as 'hired help' so to speak. I couldn't help but wonder what was going through their heads. I could imagine, from my memories, of how they cursed the RIP Cadre for their own shortcomings. Some simply said it wasn't worth all the Bullshit; I suppose they thought that simply 'showing up' was enough. Remember, now, the vast majority of these guys QUIT before ever beginning. One of the current RIP Cadre members was a private in my team; and I asked him what the 'deal' was with RIP these days. He replied that he couldn't understand it either. He said that guys show up, and quit within the first day or so; some quit as soon as they get there from Airborne.
I suppose that's how I remember it also, now that I reflect on it. There were so many OPT 40 guys in Basic/AIT; and they were constantly talkin' smack to one another, forming their own little cliques. I just concentrated on the immediate task. I never really worried about what lay ahead; the next level of training. I do remember when those guys were actually put to the test, all their 'knowledge' of what lies ahead couldn't save them. I suppose it only mattered how far were they willing to go; they obviously had not considered this. So I feel compelled to ask you DEPpers, How far are you willing to go? Will you push yourselves, to the point of death, if need be? Or will you chicken out, at the moment of truth? Statistically, the odds are against you. What are YOU gonna do?

I guess with the events of this week in combination with the posts I read about several of you DEP's leaving soon, I feel a need to pose that question to each of you. My only advice: DON'T QUIT. You can always run a little farther, take one more step, and push yourself a little harder. But you can never go back when you say,"I quit".

[RafterMan]

Great speech Ranger SB. As for all those guys who "quit" and were in charge of cleaning and setting up tables, they shouldn't have chosen the Opt. 40 Contract if they're just going to waste it, and steal that slot from somebody else who was actually motivated and wanted it more than anything. As always, thanks Ranger SB for your motivation.

[Weidert]

Thank you Ranger Saltbitch, alot of people seem to be have a fantasy about being a Ranger and not really care what it takes to push yourself to the limit and then some. I've got something to prove and mainly to myself that I have what it takes, I want this badly more than anything I have ever wanted in life. I am sick and tired of teachers holding my dick all the way through school. I have only had one challenge through highschool and that involved a level 300 college class (digital electronics) it was fun as hell for the most part and very challenging to the mind and stuck it out in the end. Yes I only got a 75% in the end but I gave that class my all and was damn proud of that grade. My teacher for all of my electronic classes was my favorite teacher ever he is a captain in the US Army Reserve; what made him special is he didn't seem to care if you passed or failed you were in his class because you wanted to be if you didn't like it you could leave. Every other class has been pretty much show up and get away with doing it less than half assed and you will at least get a B in the class.

I want to do something on my own for once because I want to do it not because I had to to graduate highschool, I need something more for myself.

[Bell]

Well look who's talking. Setting at yer comp with a cigarette and a beer or a coke or a cup of coffee makes training seem easy. You have no idea what yer in for. How many times we gotta tell ya. The quitting part is on you. You'll be pushed to limits you never knew. And you'll never wanna go back. You'll hurt so bad, for so long, that pulling fingernails and toenails would be preferable to the way ya feel at the moment. You'll come awake at the end of a road march and didn't realize you'd passed out. But there ya are, grinning like a fool and not remembering the last 4 miles. Feet bleeding, shins killin ya, numb all over and hurting so bad at the same time. Isn't till ya get home ya realize yer ruck put 3 holes in yer back so deep ya can see the yellow fat and the neat little veins.

Sure is easy to sit here and be tough.

The only thing I want to hear from you guys is how ya made it. And ya don't have to tell me how bad it hurt. Then you'll know what we've all been trying to tell ya. Ya can't blame some of those guys for quitting. They really didn't. Some just couldn't make it. Most of us in here made it on pure guts and determination. By the skin or our teeth. The training is intended to hurt ya so bad, you wanna quit. Those that don't and don't get injured make it.

So ask yer questions now. Keep your opinions to yourself. You don't belong in half these conversations and nobody wants to hear how tough you are. How ya gonna impress these guys? You'll impress them by posting after RIP and telling us which Battalion yer going to. Then keep in touch and let us know when ya head off to Ranger School. Then I really wanna hear from ya when ya graduate. Now you've earned the right to get on these boards and talk all the shit ya want. But you'll notice something. Your shit will smell better and you'll be pretty squared away. Then you can put up with all the bullshit chestbeaters we have to contend with.

Good luck on your endeavor. 2 out of 10. Hasn't changed much since I was there. Damn this beer is good. Now no shit, there I was.....

I'm gonna edit this thing and add this. There's games you have to play in your mind to accomplish the impossible. Imagine yerself standing in front of the biggest tree ya ever seen. A man tells ya to climb it. You walk around it, look at it and tell him that the damn thing is too big. He says climb it and ya hear a click. Ya look and the guy has a gun pointed at ya and says climb it. I don't know about you, but I'd climb the sumbitch. That's the game I played. Everytime I wanted to lay down I imagined a guy standing behind me with a gun and promising to pull the trigger if I did.

Now some of ya remember this guy. He's retired now. CSM Donald Purdy. He was my Platoon Sergeant. His mind game, especially on road marches was that the enemy was 2 miles behind and closing fast. Or just behind him about a 1/2 mile around the bend. That kept him going. Just imagining the enemy closing in.

Don't quit. Don't ever quit. Make up your mind now that the only way they get ya outta there is passed out on a stretcher. If ya fake it, you have to live with it. And I'll tell ya now. They and we can spot the fakers at 200 meters. The walk, the talk. It's easy to spot the doers and the slackers. What are ya?

RLTW
Bell

[Weidert]

Ranger Bell, I do know as of right now I am not even a puke I am not worth to kiss the dirt that you Rangers have walked on. I know it's going to be a hardass rocky road but I have no idea to the extent that it will hurt, I'll have to find out on my own.

[Morris0352]

Right now it is easy to think "OH I can make it, it can't be THAT bad" while i'm sitting here reading posts. But when I get there I imagine it to be the worst pain ever. And my motivation for not quitting is that, no matter how much it sucks, it will be over soon. I CAN keep going those few extra steps, do that 1 extra pushup not matter what. But the sucky thing is, when it hurts real bad, you'll always know in the back of your mind that you can make it stop whenever you want, it's just two words away. But what keeps me from thinking of ever saying those is that no matter how much it hurts, it won't be half as nice as completion.

Just my thoughts. Thanks again Ranger Bell and everyone who has helped me along the way. I've got 64.5 hours until my recruiter is coming to pick me up so I'm trying to make the most of it. It won't be long until i'm sweating my ass off in Georgia. Oh well it'll make me tougher.
Thanks again

[Bell]

Morris ya little piece a shit. If I don't hear from ya about yer graduation from AIT, then yer graduation from Airborne School, then yer whenever ya can post at RIP, and yer final graduation to a Battalion, I'm gonna hunt ya down and whip the shit outta ya. Then after ya buy the beer we'll tell tales and swap stories.

I wanna know dammit. Keep us informed.

RLTW
Bell

[Morris0352]

heheh I'll keep you informed for sure. PM me your address and I'll send you a letter at every big moment along the way (ie graduations). And don't worry I'm DEFINATELY not going to be like that one POS kid that ended up dropping his Ranger Contract for the Old Guard. He probably didn't even make it through that. Thanks though, seriously.

[Happy]

I know it's wierd about all the quitters. My class started with like 80 kids. The cadre came over to get my company from airborne school (C CO) I think there where like 20 of us. We ran from airborne school to the Ranger Compound. We walk into the gates and they give us the general don't go here don't "step" here. You hoohas know what i mean. Then the 1SG comes out and says who wants to quit right now. Like half of the 20 kids quit right there. I was unfortunate enough to come to RIP the week after the class began so I spent 3 weeks doing post details. As the other airborne graduates started to show over those 3 weeks. The WW platoon became bigger than ours. It's crazy how people just crumble under adversity.

I think my biggest advantage was having a whole year in DEP I spent my whole senior year in highschool, prepairing myself for RIP. Not realizing that i was making basic/ait and airborne easier for myself. Nothing physically bothered me during basic. Roadmarching was a little shocking but i got over that quickly. The mental aspects are really hard to prepare for and i think this is why people just quit. It takes a real strong person to be mentally tought at 18 though. I had the attitude that i was going to accomplish this and nobody could stop me.

[Morris0352]

Did I read that right Ranger Happy??? You started off w/ 20 people attending RIP and 10 quit basically on the first day?? If you only had 10 people going through RIP, then how many graduated??? Or did I totally misunderstand what you said?? if i did I apologize now.

[Carboned114]

You read it wrong. He said his RIP class started with 80, 20 of which were form his airborne school company and 10 of those quit the 1st day.

[Morris0352]

Thanks TOOYOUNG, I figured that 10 going through RIP would be a little weak, but I figure that's how many graduate out of a class of 80.

[Happy]

I think my rip class finished with 20-30 peeps out of like 80. I know the 1st day of rip the 1sg came out to formation after pt and asked who wanted to quit now and a shitload of people raised thier hands.

Too Young is correct half of the 20 that ran over with me from airborne school quit as soon as we got to the compound. I know those WW guys got screwed over pretty bad. Most of them went to Korea. That's what the pukes get for wasting the Army's money and taking away a spot from a kid that really wanted it.

[Spartan]

I can see that some of you really enjoy 'word problems' - well - this ain't algebra.

And, for the record - those WW's have made a great contribution by setting up all the tables, sweeping floors, taping the little American Flags to the tables so they would not blow away, etc.... I was pretty impressed and I hope that some of you will have the opportunity to do that in the future. Afterall, without the WW's doing this, we'd have to interrupt the training of the RIPPIEs to do it. And for sure, there is probably at least one good future Platoon Sergeant in each crop of RIPPIEs and they will go on to serve as RGMT or Brigade CSM's in the future. So, no need to interrupt that training when some of you can simply raise your hand and step to the back of the formation, move all your crap into the next barracks and grab a broom or pick up a shovel. Afterall, time to lean is time to clean.

[Happy]

LMFAO That was great Spartan.